


Suddenly I'm Not Alone

by writerwisegirl



Series: Brothers (In Arms) [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Vietnam War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 09:34:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18775576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerwisegirl/pseuds/writerwisegirl
Summary: Lots of other people have written this but I decided to try my hand at it.What if, when Klaus went to the VFW, someone recognized him? Maybe one of his old war buddies? This is that story





	Suddenly I'm Not Alone

Klaus honestly didn’t know what he was supposed to do. 1968 had felt more like home than 2019 ever had. Why the hell had he opened up that briefcase? He should be back at home with his real family, mourning Dave’s death with them, not here on this stupid bus with Dave’s blood still on his hands. Still, he stumbled off the bus and smashed the briefcase against a bench as if it was the cause of everything that had ever gone wrong in his life. Then, he curled up on the ground and sobbed. 

He must have fallen asleep where he lay, because the next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake by a stranger.   
“You okay kid?” The man asked.  
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”   
“You don’t look fine.”  
Klaus sat up and flapped his “Good Bye” hand at the man. “Just gotta get back to camp,” He murmured, momentarily forgetting where and when he was.   
“Camp? Kid, you sure you’re alright?”  
“Doesn't look like I’m bleeding currently, so I think I’m fine.”  
“Alright, whatever you say, kid.” The man walked away, grumbling about millennials and their weirdness.  
Klaus hauled himself back up from where he lay, wondering why his squad had left him asleep here. Then, he looked around and remembered when he was.   
“Shit,” He sighed, before walking over to pick up what remained of the briefcase and begin the walk back to the Academy.

When he got home the first thing he did - after stashing what was left of the briefcase in his room - was take a bath. It didn’t last long though. The once soothing white noise of the running water now sounded too much like a chopper overhead, and he was quickly flinching into the water and trying to protect himself from the bombs that were sure to follow. He honestly didn’t entirely remember getting himself out of the tub and back to his bedroom, but now Five was asking when he had ended up, and he almost told him. But he couldn’t. It was too much too soon. So instead he snapped at him. He told him had destroyed the briefcase, which was true, but he didn’t tell him that he still had what was left of it shoved in his closet. He may have destroyed it, but he couldn’t make himself get rid of it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he held onto the hope that maybe he could find a way to fix it, to go back and save Dave. To get back to his family. And when Five kept bugging him, he just walked away. He couldn’t do this right now.

He found Deigo heading out and hitched a ride with him. He didn’t know what he was expecting to do, but when he saw the VFW he knew what he needed. He had to go in, to see if he could find a picture of Dave, or anything like that. He expected there would be something in there about the 173rd. What he didn’t expect was to feel a hand on his shoulder. Dammit, Diego must have followed him in.   
“Go away Deigo,”   
“I don’t know who Deigo is, but I’m not going anywhere right now.”   
What the hell? If it wasn’t Deigo, then who the fuck was talking to him? With a sigh, he shrugged off the hand and turned around, expecting to have to tell some old vet to fuck off and leave him alone, only to stumble back when he saw the face. His back hit the display, and he slid down onto the ground. No, this couldn’t be real. There was no way in hell this was real. He wasn’t here, because if he was here he was dead and he couldn’t - he couldn’t be dead! The war was over, he was supposed to be at home with his family, not hovering in front of Klaus in a VFW bar trying to talk to him.   
“No-” He choked out “No, you’re not here, you can't be here, you can’t be dead!”  
At that, recognition lit up the other man’s eyes and stumbled back a few steps. “Oh my god…” He breathed, before rushing back toward Klaus. “Hey, I ain't dead Spook. Not yet. I’m just in the right place at the right time.” Slowly, ever so slowly, he reached out and placed a hand on Klaus’s shoulder. “See, your ghosts can’t touch you, can they? I’m here kid, I’m real.”  
“...Jim?”   
“Yeah Spook it’s me. Who knew you were telling the truth the whole time, huh? You really were from the future.”  
Klaus gave a choked off sob and launched himself into Jim’s arms, finally letting himself break down.   
“Hey, hey it’s okay kid. I’m here, I’m not going anywhere.” 

They sat like that for some time, Klaus sobbing in Jim’s arms, and Jim warning off anyone else from coming close with a glare. Finally, Klaus started to calm down and pulled away, babbling out apologies and plenty of other stuff, clearly trying to pull himself back together.   
“Hold on now Spook. You don’t need to apologize for your feelings. How many times do I have to tell you that?’  
“I know, I know, it’s just… it’s been a long day.”  
Something about that didn’t seem quite right. “A long day? What do you mean by that?”  
“I...I got back about 12 hours ago Jim.”   
“Shit, Klaus, you mean…?”  
“He...In my fucking arms...” And with that, he was sobbing again. 

Jim was so focused on comforting Klaus that he didn’t notice the other kid until he spoke.  
“What the hell, Klaus?”  
Immediately, Klaus shot up from where he was holding into Jim, drying his eyes and glaring at the other man.  
“Fuck off Diego, I’m fine.”  
“You’re clearly not, you’re crying like a baby!”   
“I don’t want to fucking talk about it!”  
Jim sighed and ran a hand over his face “Calm down Spook, he’s just worried about you.”  
Klaus sighed and sat down again “I know. It’s just...I can’t talk about it yet Jim. It’s only been a few hours and he’s...he’s gone, and I can’t get him back. I was gone for so long. But for them, it was just a few hours. They don’t even know I was gone.”  
“Alright, it’s okay. Why don’t we go back to my place, you can stay with me for the night and maybe tomorrow we can call the others, they’ll want to see you.”  
“Yeah, that sounds nice.”

*******

The next morning, Jim woke up before Klaus, but he decided to let the kid sleep a bit longer. He needed all the rest he could get, Jim could still remember how tired he had been during the war. He had just gotten used to it, and he guessed Klaus had too. He leaned against the door frame of the living room, watching Klaus sleep. He was on the floor, despite having been on the couch when Jim went to bed last night.   
As he stood and watched, a kid outside screamed, probably trying to get out of going to school. Jim barely flinched, having gotten used to that sort of thing over the years, but Klaus was standing immediately, fumbling under the couch for a gun that wasn’t there.  
“Dave!” He yelled, “Where the hell is my gun?” 

*****

Klaus woke up to screaming. That wasn’t anything new, people were always screaming in the war, but this sounded like a kid. There weren’t supposed to be any kids here, something was wrong. He shot up from where he had been sleeping and reached blindly under his cot for his gun. When he couldn’t find it he called to Dave, thinking maybe he had taken it to clean it or something. It wasn’t until he couldn’t find Dave that he really started to panic.   
Suddenly Jim was in front of him, talking to him, but he couldn’t really hear anything.   
“Jim? Where’s Dave? He was right here when I went to bed!”  
“Klaus...Dave’s gone. I’m sorry kid.”  
“No, no Dave’s not gone, it was a nightmare. It can’t have been real. I’m, I’m back in ‘Nam, I’m in the tent with Dave, none of it was real!”  
“Kid...I’m real sorry but it was real. I wish I could tell you that Dave’s just out on patrol, or he’s getting the two of you something to eat, but I can’t.”

Klaus curled into himself on the couch, sobbing, and Jim’s heat broke. In the span of twenty four hours, Klaus had seen the love of his life die in his arms and then come back from ‘Nam only to be dropped in the middle of what looked like some family drama, and disrespected and told he was faking when he showed up in what was supposed to be a safe space. He sighed and sat down next to him, putting a hand on his back.   
“How about I make us some breakfast and we can have a little talk, okay?”  
Klaus sniffed and nodded, “That sounds good. Do you have waffles?”  
Jim almost laughed, thinking of all of Klaus’s complaints about the lack of breakfast food in the army, before remembering that that was literally yesterday for Klaus. He sighed and patted Klaus on the shoulder before heading to the kitchen.

*****

Klaus stayed where he was after Jim left, not wanting to get up quite yet. But he wasn’t allowed to stay like that for long, as it had only been a minute when Ben appeared.  
“Dude! Where have you been? You just disappeared! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”  
“Ben! I missed you so much!”   
“I missed you too, where were you?”   
“Vietnam.”   
“Viet...what?”   
“Vietnam. It was an accident, but that briefcase I stole was some sort of time machine. I ended up in Vietnam in 1968, during the war. I was there for almost a year.”   
Ben sat down next to him, his eyes wide. “Shit, Klaus.”  
“Yeah, it was, mostly.”  
“Mostly?”  
“Well, there was Dave. He was...wonderful. And I loved him, and he loved me.”   
“What happened?” Ben asked, noticing that Klaus’s eyes were starting to tear up.  
“He died. Yesterday. So I opened the briefcase again, and now here I am.”  
“Speaking of, where exactly is here?”  
“Oh, this is Jim’s place. He was in the war with me, and he found me at the VFW and brought me back here. He didn’t want to leave me with Diego, for some reason.”  
“Well if you’ve told him anything about our family I can’t say I blame him.”  
“Yeah, I told my squad some stories. They were more like family to me than anyone but you.”   
“Then I really don’t blame him for wanting to make sure you’re safe, especially when you just got back from war.”  
“Klaus? You talking to one of your ghosts out there?” Jim called from the kitchen.  
“Yeah, my brother Ben, I told you about him remember?”  
“Oh, nice to meet you, Ben.”  
“Tell him I say hi too.”  
“Ben says hi.”  
Jim just grunted and went back to his cooking, but he was smiling, glad Klaus had someone looking out for him.


End file.
